"District Bullying"

KISD blog by Elizabeth Ramos

9/29/2019

Like when Corando said I was a liar to all those teachers.

Bullying. Really sad I feel the need to blog about this. I have blogged about this somewhat in the past. Most everyone has had experience with bullying in one manner or another. No one is immune. October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Greenwood did something on the 9th that I have never seen. He got up and stood behind the podium in open session and talked to KISD board members about bullying. He stated we need to do more at KISD to prevent bullying here. They have the power to change district policy and should do so. It has never been a hot topic prior to what transpired in Bishop.

I really hope that there is change in the future. In my first meeting with Bera we talked about bullying. She stated she wanted to bring a bullying app; which she did. The solution to some of this issue was started and we need to keep the momentum going. I’d love to see a “See Something, Say Something Box” in every school with a comment/suggestion box for our children to use. I have all kinds of ideas. The only thing I am sure of, is we as adults, need to set that example first!

As a parent, I have wondered, “If I go to bed tonight, will I have my child with me in the morning? Will I wake up and find that my young child has taken her own life because of cruelty at school? Am I supposed to sleep in the same room as her? What if what I told her didn’t stop her from those feelings? Did I do enough?” Middle school was horrible experience for both her and me. It got so low that one kid voice messaged my daughter over Facebook that she was going to “pull up” to our home and shoot it up. You could hear her mother in the background yelling, “Yeah, bitch, that is how we do!” It angered me that my daughter had to put up with that nonsense. I grew up with bullying in my life, but never did anyone ever threaten my life. My bullies’ parents would have whopped the shit out of them if they were caught saying those things. That is the difference between yesterday and today. Technology has changed this dramatically.

I have never been a bully. I bullied the bullies. I stood up to them in school. I didn’t care who you were or how popular you were or how much money your parents had or who your daddy was. I remember a friend of mine for over 10 years finally ‘came out of the closet.’ He was always different. Even in elementary school he was cheering with the cheerleaders instead of throwing balls around during recess. This kid was nothing but full of the lord’s love and happiness. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. He came out our Senior year. I sat down in Gov’t class and a girl leaned over to another girl and said, “Did you hear Chauncy Taylor is gay?” I leaned into that conversation and whispered, “If his name comes out of either of your mouths again you will wish you could turn back time.” This was in the 90’s in a country town and his father was the town pastor. Not only did it have to be hard to be gay, it was even harder to be gay and black.

There aren’t enough Liz’s in the world to stop all of the bullying though… I could write a 500-page book about my experiences of bullying. It doesn’t end with kids either. Adults bully as well. Some bully so minor they don’t even know they are doing it. Sometimes bullying is their job dependent on what that is. Speaking of job. KISD board members had a job to do at their most recent workshop. A few board members have been doing a swell job bullying people in the community, especially parents. It didn’t end there.

Coranzo was all of a sudden so excited to put safety on the agenda for the workshop. Bera had already started doing that. Campus principals have done a phenomenal job providing a safer way to deal with the drop-off and pick-up issues at the campuses. Each one stood up and spoke about the changes that were made at each campus and what they needed at the workshop Thursday. They need traffic cones. If anyone wants to donate traffic cones to KISD, now is the time! It was sort of a waste of time; a waste of the principal’s time.

Wayne Grant was put on the agenda as promised from last board meeting. Brandon Greenwood was the only absent board member. It is no wonder why parents and people in the community don’t show up. Whether it be to help, complain, state concerns, or even give praise about KISD. It is all a joke. It is all a show. We vote these people to be our voice, no? What is the point if they won’t at least listen to us? Normally if you have an idea and go up and speak about it you have an ‘elevator speech’ or a ‘pitch’ to give and you can answer questions or concerns after. Wayne didn’t even get through his first two sentences without being interrupted. Constant questions. Prado said, “You must not know anything about security then” to a guy who is a veteran. He was being so rude to him. You know, you don’t have to agree with everyone about everything doesn’t mean you have to act douchery about it. That would put off about anyone in the community from ever wanting to say anything. Wayne took it like a pro though. Gave the board members a little taste of their own medicine. I wish everyone could have been there to watch.

When they were on the topic of safety at schools someone mentioned something about anti-bullying videos and Prado stated, “Yes! Good idea we need to address bullying too.” I was thinking in my head, “Yea, maybe you should be the first person to watch the videos.” I had to bite my tongue so many times that night. I left. I couldn’t take anymore of the immaturity and fakeness from some of the members of the board. I have had enough of the dog and pony show. All of this seems to be a game for some people and it is very concerning. Pot meet kettle! The workshop was horrible. I was so disappointed. I cannot believe that they are this out of touch. I cannot believe they would treat a person like this. I am very happy to say that I don’t mind being treated like this. I am sure they didn’t scare Grant off. They don’t scare me. Wayne fired back at them. He won’t be bullied. Neither will I. They can keep doing that, it just helps them show their true colors. I had to leave before the ‘hood’ version of Liz came out. I couldn’t take it anymore. No one should have to take that mistreatment.

Then Coranzo had a brilliant idea to put anti-bullying vidoes on buses like “they do in the valley.” I thought, “If you like the valley so much, move there? The valley gets funding that KISD will never get. Please stop comparing us to them! And no kid wants to watch a bullying video on the bus ride home. Recording cameras are needed on the bus for safety reasons and this may prevent bullying as these kids will be on camera. We don’t need televisions.”

I don’t always disagree with Coranzo and Cory. They make sense sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if it is his girlfriend he calls during the board meeting that is making sense. Other times I want to bang my head into a desk because they are so out of touch! You want to stop bullying in the schools? Start with yourself. Corando came up to me after closed session prior to Bera resigning and I was looking at my phone. He held out his hand for me to shake it. I saw that in the corner of my eyes and was about to put my hand out to shake it like a grown ass adult should. Then he ruined it. He said, “Hey, Kooky.” Too bad I cannot put face palm emojis on here because that needed a few. If he would have respectfully called me by my name, which I know he knows, I would have gladly shaken his hand. How disrespectful! That type of sarcasm is bullying. I looked at him and then put my face back in my phone. He walked away. Should I have said something witty and sarcastic back to him like, “Hey, Moe”? I cannot be that person. I cannot be that type bully. Why does he keeps doing that to me? I will never know. Did he really think that was cute? Is he a smart-ass like that to other people or just me? Should I have been the bigger person and ‘love thy neighbor’ and shake his hand? I didn’t want him to go run to his breakfast buddies like he is on some type of roll with me because he is not. He is on a roll looking like fool all by himself.

What scares me is the parents that have legitimate concerns and this is the treatment they get. What bothers me is to get treated with respect or help with whatever issues you may have you have to kiss their asses. What really concerns me is the children that go to our schools and how they feel when they enter the doors. Now that campuses and staff are doing a better job of getting them into school and out of school safer let’s find a way to make them feel safe inside. Kids spend a large amount of their life in schools. 40 hours a week or more if they have afterschool activities. If adults have had experiences where their work environment was not safe, you better bet the same thing is happening at schools. I am positive a large portion of the reason why Bera felt the need to leave instead of be fired was bullying. Some have told me teachers even bully other teachers. For such a small town bullying shoulnd't be this prevelant. Revenge doesn't bring satisfaction.

Kids are way more vulnerable because they are younger and haven’t had much life experience to deal with emotions or actions. This is their learning experience. KISD can do better. Maybe voters can bubble in ballots better. The district needs to set a better example. The district needs some change. Bera tried to do that but was beat up and dragged and coerced in the process. If they are willing to do that to a district leader, what makes you think they won’t do that to anyone else?

Children learn by example. They don’t make this stuff up. Children were born with love. It starts somewhere…..